first top keeping a close eye on our chance four winter weather over the weekend. let's get to him for the latest on the storm bearing down on us. >> it's almost 48 hours away. it's hard to believe with a temperature of 54 today we're talking about snow, but we're going to declare sunday a severe weather alert day. let's start with what we know about the storm. this hasn't changed since last night. this is good. we're looking at no problems saturday night, no problems if you want to go out. nothing will fall from the sky. now looks like it may end up a as rain, starting out as rain d.c. south and east but quickly turning to snow between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. the critical times haven't changed either, 11 p.m. to about 11 a.m. rather to about 11 p.m. on sunday. this is going to be a sunday event. i'm dusting off the brett-o- meter. keep the applause down, please. 10 being run for your lives, the february blizzard of 2010, we'll give this a 3, somewhere between a nuisance and plowable storm. trends are a little further

south this afternoon. we'll keep you posted if that changes. we'll come back and show you where the bull's eye will be and it's kind of counterintuitive, might surprise you. getting back now to the bombing plot against the u.s. capitol, tonight 29-year-old amine el khalifi is in federal custody after an fbi sting caught him as he launched a plan to shoot capitol police and blow up himself inside the capitol building, the details just filtering in. >> he thought he was plotting with al-qaeda operatives, but in reality it was with undercover fbi agents who insist the public was never at risk. el khalifi appeared in federal court in alexander this afternoon charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a plot to shoot his way into the capitol and ignite a suicide bomb so he could kill people face to face. he was arrested in this parking garage near the capitol after accepting what he thought were a working machine gun and a

functioning bomb laden explosive vest, both fake from undercover fbi agents who have been engaged in the sting over a year. federal documents say el khalifi devised the plot and methods purchasing himself ingredients for the suicide vest. >> the fact he's wearing a suicide vest would suggest to anyone including someone on the jury this guy was going to act on what he believed. >> reporter: similar stings in the past two years have caught would be terrorists who wanted to use model airplanes packed with explosives to attack the capitol and pentagon and in another case to attack metro. if convicted, el khalifi faces life in prison. the government says el khalifi originally thought about blowing up a military building and then a restaurant frequented by military personnel before deciding to target the capitol. >> stunning information, gary. i know you'll follow it through the evening and bring us more at 11:00. today's arrest also sparked

a series of searches in northern virginia. the fbi was spotted at a house in the douglas park section of arlington and then at an apartment complex in alexandria. that's where our ken molestina is live to pick up our team coverage. >> reporter: it's believed that terror suspect lived at this apartment complex. fbi agents accompanied by alexandria police showed up here to the point apartment off wyndham circle just before 3:00 today. we were able to get this video just as authorities were getting here. it's believed el khalifi lived in a first floor apartment of the 3308 building at point apartments. fbi agents entered the unit and searched it, although it's unknown what they may have found. neighbors say they're alarmed that terror suspect lived in their community. >> that was a big surprise. i've been working from home the past few months and never noticed anything going on too crazy. >> reporter: do you know the guy? have you seen him? >> my wife mentioned seeing

someone who fit the description that she saw on the news hanging around over at 53308, but i've never seen him before. >> reporter: as lesli mentioned earlier, fbi agents showed up to the 1600 block of south randolph in arlington. an investigation is linked to this same search that took place in alexandria. according to the fbi a search warrant was issued for the property on south randolph where at least two other people have also been questioned. so back out live here in alexandria i can tell you still a lot of details coming out of this investigation. we'll stay on top of those details and bring them to you as we get them. >> we know you will, kenny. we'll have much more on this story at www.wusa9.com. that's where you can also watch for updates throughout the evening when we're not on the air. thick black smoke billowed from the roof of anacostia high school today and people as far away as can doll hill say they could see it smoldering. >> reporter: i'm kristin fisher outside anacostia senior high school, the site of a

major two alarm fire earlier today. two d.c. firefighters were injured and taken to the hospital, treated and released. initial reports indicate the fire started on the roof and was fueled by high winds and a large volume of roofing material. >> it's terrible, but i'm just thankful that we were able to evacuate all our young people, that everybody is safe. >> reporter: but this parent and former football coach says the students should have never been in the school that's under construction. in fact, he says there's already been two construction- related incidents at this school in the last two years. >> they use a saw with flammable terms on the roof that got into the heating -- materials on the roof that got into the heating and duct system, so they had to evacuate the students then. one instance they busted a sewer pipe and the kids had to eat lunch outside of. >> reporter: d.c. public schools said they considered a range of options for relocation sites, but others sites were too far, could not accommodate the entire student body or did

not have the appropriate ammenities. the cause of this fire is still under investigation. kristin fisher, 9 news now. there is new information tonight in our ongoing investigation of a northwest washington liquor store that's allegedly been selling alcohol to minors and been doing it for years. 9 news now aired a report february 1st about town square market which documented those sales. today d.c. deputy mayor paul quander stepped in to ensure that investigation moves forward. like us he wonders why town square market is still in business and why has it taken so long for the investigators to take action? >> when i saw the report, i was concerned about the length of time. i was concerned about what montgomery county had uncovered. >> montgomery county police issued at least 36 alcohol citations over five nights in december for alcohol purchased at town square market. officers alerted abra to those citations that same month. remarkably police issued two

more alcohol citations just this past weekend. in the wake of our reports abra will might later this month with the cops and universities across our area to figure out the best way to share this sort of information so their investigations can be more efficient. now our reports on teen drinking had prompted someone to call us this morning and tip us off torans in montgomery county and tonight a liquor inspector is in custody charged with trying to shake down a restaurant owner. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in wheaton where this liquor inspector carlos grajada allegedly was under surveillance and seen not once but twice going in and out of this restaurant allegedly taking cash. the restaurant owner called in police last month after grajada allegedly offered to erase two violation notices and give advance warning of future inspections in exchange for $1,000. police were watching when grajada arrived in a county car january 30th and allegedly took

his first payment of $500. then thursday detectives were there again and busted graja after he left -- grajada after he left the restaurant in, his pocket, $500 marked by police. >> it appears he was driving a county vehicle and was on duty. >> reporter: he's now charged with two counts of extortion by a public employee, both felonies. he's been released on bond. in wheaton scott broom, 9 news now. coming up tonight on 9 news now at 7:00 the payroll tax cut extension clears the congress but no thanks to our area's rent actives and senators. find out -- representatives and senators. find out who voted for and against it and why. still to come in this half hour of 9news one new after proceedings were delayed another setback at uva lacrosse murder trial. a bizarre case of road rage caught on tape. you'll see what happens up next.

caught on tape the wrong way to handle your anger. surveillance cameras were rolling last april when a driver of the bus there in the left-hand corner got into some sort of altercation with a bicyclist. you can see as the cyclist starts to ride away the bus comes up behind, swerves and hits him. that cyclist broke a thumb, a wrist and a leg and the driver of the bus will be spending 17 months in jail. on to a commuter alert about this weekend's work on metro for the long three-day weekend crews will be closing the clarendon and courthouse stations on the orange line. on the red line the grovener strathner station will be closed. shuttle buses will be available. that work begins tonight at 10 p.m. and is expected to wrap up by tuesday morning. the u.s. postal service is tossing out new ideas to help the agency save $20 billion a year. they include, get this, raising

the price of first class stamps to 50 cents apiece, eliminating saturday delivery and closing as many as 3,700 local post offices. still ahead a popular local zoo under scrutiny by police. we'll tell you about the annal cruelty allegations against the -- animal cruelty allegations against the director tonight.

right now the maryland house of delegates is considering a handful of final amendments to the bill that would legalize same sex marriage in the state, but even opponents of the measure say they believe supporters do have the 71 votes they need to pass it. the next step for the bill is the state senate which did pass a similar measure last year. will surveillance tape of george huguely and yeardley love holding hands the night before her death have an impact on jurors who are considering whether he murdered her? bruce leshan reports from charlottesville that the uva lacrosse murder trial is headed

into an unusual saturday session. >> reporter: the video actually shows yeardley love and george huguely together fairly friendly just a night before he is accused of beating her to death. they are at a local watering hole and she's holding his hand. she embraces his two young cub every cousins. the question, of course -- cousins. the question, of course, how important is this going to be for the jurors who know that this was an on again off again relationship, often violent and often fueled by alcohol? also today a defense expert testified that the laptop that george huguely is accused of stealing from yeardley love, that that laptop was worth less than $200. if that is the case, then the jurors cannot find george huguely guilty of murder in the commission of a robbery. in this case prosecutors will have to convince them that george huguely intended to kill

yeardley love. in charlottesville bruce leshan, 9 news now. >> so much to watch in the days ahead. one of huguely's lawyers has been sick the last couple days and she's the one handling the defense's medical experts. his other lawyer says they should easily get through the rest of their case tomorrow and we'll be following it. singer whitney houston will be remembered at a funeral in new jersey tomorrow. we'll broadcast it live for you at noon. you can see it on bounce tv which is our digital channel 9.2. that's comcast channel 207. we'll also be streaming it live on our website, www.wusa9.com. only on 9 tonight questions about the behavior of the director at a local zoo and now fairfax county police want to know more about what's happening at the reston zoo. >> reporter: i'm peggy fox in vienna. it's a familiar place for families with children, but now the reston zoo is under investigation for possible cruelty to animals. it houses a variety of animals

such as goats and camels and chickens and turkeys and until recently a wallaby like this one found on youtube, but thursday morning fairfax county police executed this search warrant after an employee at the zoo said the zoo director had drowned a sick wallaby as a means of euthanasia. the warrant says the employee jumped into a dumper it and found a trash bag containing the deceased wallaby which was profusely wet. the police officer wrote that the director said she euthanized the wallaby by injection with a drug called euthanasia but the officer found no blood at the injection site and noted the dead animal was wet. the director said they routinely wash the bodies. an employee says she doesn't believe the allegation and supports the director. an update on a preschooler in north carolina who had her homemade lunch taken away in favor of chicken nuggets.

we told you earlier this week about the little girl who brought a turkey sandwich, potato chips, a banana and apple juice to have it taken away by an inspector. the school says this was all a teacher's mistake and the children should have just given the child some milk to round out her meal instead of taking it away, absolutely. >> i'd argue the turkey sandwich is probably healthier than the nuggets. >> thank you. >> a banana, apple juice. so what if there's a little chips. who doesn't send chips to school with their kids, right? >> yummy. oh, i'm hungry now. >> i had a good friend that had a feel good lunch. literally every day for the nine years i was in school with him peanut butter and jelly. >> he had protein and whole grain. >> it didn't stop him from growing. he's about 6' 4. didn't stunt his growth. i should have had more peanut butter and jelly. i'm just saying. >> maybe. >> let's look outside live, very nice evening. it got to 54 today, our live weather cam brought to you by

michael and son. pressure rising 30.07, winds calming down northwest at 9 and dew point 24. we'll watch that very carefully. that is an indication how dry the atmosphere is and how much it can cool down when precipitation starts falling. coastal storm sunday, hasn't changed. keep your saturday night plans, hasn't changed. it may start as rain d.c. south and east, but it will quickly change to snow between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. so places like waldorf and maybe even northern st. mary's county may initially see rain, but it should change to snow quickly and the critical times are still 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. sunday. we're still almost 48 hours away. impact for the snow threat, howard showed you in at known. this hasn't changed too much. what may surprise you is the highest threat is not north and west of town, but rather south and west of town, especially back into the i-81/i-64 corridor, places like roanoke

and charlottesville will get hammered and also charles county into culpeper could end up being the bull's eye as opposed to places like frederick. the farther north you go, the less snow you get this time. satellite picture radar combined, here is the beginning of the storm, some of the moisture and energy. eventually this will kind of consolidate itself into an organized low pressure in the gulf of mexico. it will move into alabama and move off the coast of north carolina as we get into sunday evening. we are looking at clear skies to not and even tomorrow it's going to be pretty nice. 47 bethesda, 49 rockville, 48 great falls, 49 reston, 48 herndon and 50s out in college park. okay. here's the deal. more like a march storm because it's mild on either side of the storm. grab a coat tonight, still mild to nice tomorrow, no worries saturday night and whatever band we get whether it's heavy or moderate, it will be between about 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. sunday. again, better chance south. clear and chilly tonight, one to two blanket night, 28 to 38.

tomorrow morning we start out mostly sunny, temperatures in the 30ors and 40s. by afternoon i -- 30s and 40s. by afternoon i know it's hard to believe, increasing high clouds, still pleasant, high 55 saturday. we talked about this yesterday, can snow the following day with teaches in the 50s. here it comes on -- temps in the 50s. here it comes on sunday. boom, back in the 50s next week with showers wednesday and more showers next friday. >> a little bit of a roller coaster. >> a little bit, more up than down, though. >> we're getting down to crunch time for the caps. speaking of roller coaster, no one thought we'd be here. the caps started stringing together some wins, a road trip that one player said might make or break their season and the redskins made their first offseason acquisition, a familiar name coming back next.

and now 9 sports with dave owens, the best sports in town. >> let's face it, caps aren't who we thought they were and tonight because of a stretch of

games and brooks laich says it's going to probably determine their season, wow. kind of hard to believe. this team started 7 -0. since then they've gone 21-23, two under .500, fired the coach and they're on the outside of the playoffs looking in. tonight's opponent first place florida, four points behind them. do the math, this one big. >> this first game in the road trip is extremely important and the whole road trip is. things are really starting to tighten up. we got to have an exceptional road trip here. >> we win the game and two points behind them, win the next game and you're right back up. it's a big game. >> caps management keeping its fingers crossed, mike green making the four-game road trip with the team, the defenseman out since january for abdominal surgery. general manager george mcphee says green could return this weekend and former redskins defensive lineman phillip daniels returning to the team as director of player development. daniels played seven seasons with the skins before being released. he will oversee numerous programs such as financial

counseling and continuing education for players. at first it sounded petty, days later it still does. the stipulation that three maryland football players including quarterback danny o'brien could transfer just not to vanderbilt which is where former maryland offensive coordinator james franklin is currently the head coach. there's been some innuendo out there franklin prematurely contacted o'brien when things weren't going so well this season. that's attach ring. franklin in a radio enter -- tampering. franklin in a radio interview staunchly denies that. the winner of the high school game of the week contest, 4,000 votes, rockville hosting orchard. frank weaver father of lily weaver battling bone cancer. >> the we've warriors, we will look for them. >>'s -- the weaver warriors, we will look for them. >> that's all for 9 news now at 6:00. good night.